Tree shortage in Pacific Northwest poses a challenge

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Brad Johnson and his daughter, Alea, of Seaside check out a tree at the Cardinale & Wright Christmas Trees lot on Satruday afternoon. The Christmas tree lot is set up at the Monterey County Fairgrounds in Monterey. (Juan Reyes â€” Monterey Herald)

MONTEREY COUNTY – The time has come when people all around the Bay Area are on the hunt for the perfect Christmas tree. But, a tree shortage in the Pacific Northwest may have some searching for one a little longer than usual.

Vince Cardinale, owner of Cardinale & Wright Christmas Trees, said because there are fewer tree farms and growers he believes the prices have gone up by at least 10 percent.

“The supply is down and the demand hasn’t lessened, so cost is up,” Cardinale said. “The last couple of years it’s been stepping up because there are fewer and fewer farms. And the guys that are retiring, there’s nobody coming in that want to do this.”

Christmas tree grower David Roy of Quail Creek Ranch Christmas Trees in Portland told the Associated Press that his crop is sparse this year because of drought conditions.

Roy planted 9,000 trees in the spring but just a few hundred survived. He said his trees usually have a 95 percent survival rate. He also mentioned the demand for trees is high despite low supply.

Cardinale said the crop looks good this year and received a lot of rain in the upper Northwest. A traditional home has a ceiling that is 8 feet tall, so any trees ranging from 7- to 8-feet are popular items and can cost anywhere from $40 to $100. Cardinale said they also sell plenty of trees that can go as high as 15 feet.

Cardinale said it takes about eight years to grow an 8-foot tree, and a lot of effort and money. He believes there were once too many farms and the supply was more than the demand.

Cardinale said the various trees he brings to the Monterey County Fairgrounds are grown as a crop that come from Washington and Oregon. The Christmas tree company also has the California-native Silver Tip tree and Fraser fir, which are indigenous to North Carolina.

Elaine DeGeorge, owner of Kris Kringle Christmas Trees in Carmel and Marina, agees there’s a shortage of trees, but she’s also seen a lot of hazelnut farms transitioning into Christmas tree farms.

“A lot of people don’t want to sit on a farm and wait eight years to collect their payment,” DeGeorge said. “We have a shortage of Christmas tree farmers, we’ve got a shortage of trees. But I don’t, because I make sure my lots have trees.”

DeGeorge has a 55-acre farm in Oregon full of noble fir trees, which is her preferred choice because it’s what most of customers demand.

DeGeorge has been operating Kris Kringle Christmas Trees in Monterey County for the past 20 years. She said the crop from her farm looks great thanks to some heavy rainfall before this year’s harvest.

However, DeGeorge mentioned there hasn’t been a lot of rain recently, which is another reason there could be a shortage of trees. She said she’ll be in good shape as far as inventory goes because she’s expecting another load to come in next week.

DeGeorge said she also believes sometimes other tree lots cut their trees way too early because they don’t look as lush as the ones she sells.

“What we do is we stagger our cutting,” DeGeorge said. “We’ll cut, then we’ll ship a load and we’re cutting our last load right as we speak. A lot of big farms, they’ve probably cut theirs two weeks ago.”

Cardinale said tree sales also haven’t increased over the years because of their biggest competitor: the artificial tree. He said the farmers aren’t marketers and haven’t really marketed their product like companies that produce artificial Christmas trees for large retail stores.

“The industry hasn’t grown its output and then you’re fighting with the artificial (business),” Cardinale said. “And artificial trees are getting better but they’re expensive, too. Some people tell me they last maybe one to two years and spent $700 to $800 dollars.”

The National Christmas Tree Association released the 2017 Christmas season consumer survey done in January among 2,086 adults ages 18 and older in the United States. A total of 27.4 million real Christmas trees were purchased in 2017 and people paid on average $75 for a real tree.

The survey also reports a total of 21.1 million artificial Christmas trees were purchased in 2017 compared to 18.6 million purchased in 2016. On average the survey participants reported they paid $107 for a fake tree in 2017 and $98.70 in 2016.